Coffee Addiction

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I’ve never been much of a coffee drinker, to be honest I’ve much more preferred Coke Cola. My girlfriend reminded me of the 3 liter bottles I use to down regularly while in college, but now that I’m a certified diabetic, I find myself drinking only Diet Coke and other horrible diet varieties of soft drinks. Since I started working earlier, I’ve found myself drinking 16 ounce coffee cups almost daily and even on the weekends when I sleep in, I find myself drinking coffee instead of getting breakfast. At first I did not notice, it just kind of happened with the change in work schedules, but come Thursdays and Fridays, I find myself exhausted and almost relish the energy (or should I say hyper attitude) that comes with morning coffee. For some reason, even though Diet Coke and Diet Mountain Dew have caffeine as well, it just doesn’t register the same with me.

Overall I find the taste of coffee to be bitter. It is not exactly a delicious drink. Though I would have to say that the Panera coffee is very flavorful and quite pleasant compared to the usual gas station coffee. I’ve mostly grown somewhat fond of French Roast with Hazelnut creamer. Since I’ve grown to become a coffee drinker, I’ve started to try a few other beverages as well, most notably beer. My preferred beer is ale. I find ale to be smoother, with less after taste. Luckily Iowa City offers plenty of choices when it comes to beer. There are even some nice local brews that are pretty good. Over the Holidays, I decided to try red wine a bit more, but cheap wine can give you headaches, and it sure gave me a terrible headache that lasted pretty much the whole day. No more wine for me.

Being Likeable

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I tend to watch a lot of NBA games and read the the daily NBA rumors at InsideHoops, which covers the daily soap opera that is the NBA and one thing that is pretty apparent about the NBA is that the entire league is a family and acceptance into the family brings with it certain responsibilities. In essence, being part of the NBA is a privilege, and the league tends to treat it that way. If you start learning more about the game of basketball and you get to learn the coaches, the players, the managers, the organizations and such, you get the idea that the NBA is really a club. And if you want to belong to this club for any length of time, you have to build relationships, because relationships play a crucial part in your success. Perhaps this is not immediately obvious to some of the younger players in the league, but it is something the coaches can attest to. Outside the world of the NBA, you can also see the value of relationships. It is rare to meet a successful person who does not credit their success to the relationships they have maintained throughout their careers.

We often think, that success demands being a self-absorbed genius, but this is actually only true when you are at the very top in your field. In general, most people are not in the top three positions in their field, so unless you are Michael Jordan, you are more often than not, judged on how likeable you are. Amazingly enough, the very same problem that parents deal with their toddlers, is the very same problem we face as adults. Toddlers and kids in general have to develop social skills that allow them to play nice with others. We often think of this as part of growing up, but I often see the same problem in adults. Many adults simply do not know how to play nice with others and have problems socializing and in effect they are not very likeable, hence not very good to be around. This limits their success immensely, unless they just happen to be actual genuises. Not being likeable is a problem which adults can also pass on to their kids, because as parents they do not know how to help their child with the very same problem they face.

But what does being likeable mean? Does it mean you walk around being nice to everyone? Being likeable is the result of work. You must work at building and maintaining relationships. This requires being genuine in caring for other people’s feelings. This cannot be taught, it must be learned. To go back to my NBA example, if as a player all you cared about was winning and not the well being of your teammates and coach, most likely the NBA will have very little to offer you after you retire. Your reputation and friendship is what makes you valueable to an organization, and life is no different.

Buick Versus Deer

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Well, if 2006 wasn’t a bad enough year for me already! Seems fate had one last card to play and it came Saturday, (December 16), when on my way back from Mankato on Highway 14, a huge buck jumps out of the center highway divider and slams head first into the driver’s side of my Buick LeSabre. Needless to say, the deer wrecked the entire side of the car. I can’t even open the driver’s side door now. Luckily, it hit the side of the car and not the front or else it could have slammed right through the windshield.

All I saw was some fur in front of the side mirror and the next thing I knew there were pieces of my car flying out. I didn’t slow down at all until about five minutes later, so as not to crash into anyone else. I eventually pulled over to the side of the road and finished tearing some of the dangling pieces of plastic from the front tire well. Then we drove to the nearest town and duck-taped the turn signal light. Katryn called the local police and they came and looked at the car and I had to get an accident report. I then had to drive about 280 miles home to Iowa from Minnesota.

From what the insurance company told us so far, the car is pretty much totaled, since the repairs cost more than the value of the car. I keep going over the accident, but I can’t think of anyway I could have avoided the deer. It was totally dark already by 5 PM, and since it blindsided me by jumping from the center divider which was pretty much a wide ditch, it was very hard for me to see.